Need recommendation to get City Pass or another type of pass

There seems to be a "city pass" for Barcelona as well as the "Barcelona Card". I assume it is the "city pass" you are considering.

Much of the value of this pass lies in the hop-on/hop-off bus. If you would not otherwise spend the money on the HO/HO bus, the city-pass will probably not be cost-effective for you. I am not a fan of HO/HOs in general, and I observed an incredibly long line of people waiting to board the next HO/HO (not yet present) at Placa Catalunya in August 2016. I don't think HO/HOs are an efficient means of transportation in most places. Barcelona has a very good subway that is quite inexpensive, especially if you buy a T-10 ticket (which can be shared by multiple members of your group if desired). Short bus tours for the purpose of orientation are probably cheaper than the HO/HO bus.

One of the two included attractions is La Sagrada Familia. There is no mention of ascending a tower, which some visitors like to do. As far as I know, there is no way to buy a separate ticket for the tower; you must buy a combo ticket that includes entry to the church plus access to the tower. Therefore, I think if you have the city-pass and want to go up one of the towers, you'll have to pay again for the full LSF ticket.

I wouldn't expect there to be a problem with getting good days and time slots if you purchased the pass soon, but LSF has limited capacity for each time block, and Parc Guell is switching to that model sometime in 2019. Buying the city-pass shortly before your trip would be risky, because the time slots you need might be sold out.

Only you can determine whether you will, might, or definitely will not save money with the city-pass, because only you know how many of the 20%-off sights you want to see and how many you'll be able to squeeze in. If you are flying to Barcelona from the US or Canada, you may be brain-dead on March 22 and have less than 3 full days for city sightseeing.

Furthermore, I see no assurance that you can use the card to obtain the discount on tickets purchased online in advance. That's really the only manageable way to see the Picasso Museum, Casa Mila or Casa Batllo. If you just show up with a city-pass to buy a ticket to those attractions on the spot, you will probably wait in an extremely long line and find out that either all the day's tickets have been sold or the available tickets are for many hours later. The Camp Nou Experience (soccer) sells out very early and would almost certainly not be available at all if you tried to buy tickets on the spot.

I looked at the Casa Mila web site and found a 3-euro discount for online purchases (22 euros rather than 25 euros). The 20% discount for in-person purchases is only 5 euros (20 euros rather than 25 euros), so the difference is far less than 20% and appears to require you to wait until you arrive in Barcelona to obtain the discounted tickets, wasting precious vacation time in line--and possibly finding the sight sold out for the period of your visit.

Casa Batllo has a 4-euro discount for online purchases.

Both Casa Mila and Casa Batllo have senior discounts (5.50 euros and 3 euros, respectively). I have no idea whether the 20% city-pass discount can be applied to the senior entry rates--not that it really matters, since I'm sure you're not interested in standing in lines at the ticket windows anyway. The senior-discount tickets can be purchased in advance on line (if you are age-qualified).

You can enjoy the modernista exteriors of many lovely buildings without paying any entry fees. I believe the least expensive significant modernista sight is the Sant Pau complex, which is 14 euros (17 euros with the audio guide). It is a lovely, multi-building complex with very pretty grounds. A bargain by Barcelona standards.

The Picasso Museum is often a miserable experience because of severe crowding. It is worth the money only for folks really interested in early Picasso.

UNDERSTANDING "PASSES" AND "CARDS" IN BARCELONA
(Dec2018)

For info, there are several websites out there offering some sort of card. Some do have agreements with the official Barcelona Tourism Board while others operate directly with the attractions. Note also that some of the private companies are piggybacking on the heavy investments on marketing done by the Barcelona Tourism Board by purposedly naming their cards so as to appear more "official" and one should notice that, obviously, the warranty of their product is solely provided by them, not the Board.

So in the spirit of clarifying this, one should know the following:

These are the generalistic cards available:

• (1) BARCELONA CARD (aka Barcelona City Card) - http://www.barcelonacard.com/en - this is the official site for the Barcelona Tourism Board (!)
• (2) BARCELONA PASS - https://www.barcelonapass.com/ - this is a private company based in England
• (3) BARCELONA CITY PASS - https://www.turbopass.com/barcelona-city-pass - this is a private company based in Germany
• (4) BARCELONA CARD - https://www.barcelonacard.org/ - this is a private company based in the Netherlands
• (5) ATTRACTION PASS/ iVENTURE CARD - http://barcelona.city-tour.com/en/iventure-card - this is a private company, Julià Tours, based in Barcelona

As a general rule, it's always better to go to the source and avoid intermediaries -which only sell the same product at a premium. "Convenience" can be very expensive in some cases.

Then there are thematic (or specialized) cards...

• (6) HOLABCN CARD - https://www.tmb.cat/en/barcelona/fares-metro-bus/barcelona-travel-card-hola-bcn -offered by the Barcelona Transport Authority (TMB)(!), this is a travel card for unlimited travelling
• (7) AIRTICKET BARCELONA (aka Barcelona Art Passport) - http://articketbcn.org/ - offered by the Barcelona Tourism Board (!), is a fairly straightforward pass., it covers entry into six of Barcelona’s top art museums.
• (8) BARCELONA NIGHTCARD - http://barcelonanightcard.com/ - fast-track entrance into Barcelona's top clubs and discotheques, this card scheme is offered and managed by a group of clubs.
• (9) BARCELONA SMART MOVING (aka Barcelona Bus Turístic) - https://www.barcelonasmartmoving.com/tickets/barcelona-hop-on-hop-off-bus-tour - the hoho company run by the City Hall (!)
• (10) HOP ON HOP OFF BARCELONA - https://www.hoponhopoffbarcelona.org/ - a website from the same private company at 4.) that resells 9.) at a premium
• (11) BARCELONA CITY TOUR - https://www.hop-on-hop-off-bus.com/barcelona-bus-tours - the "other" hoho in Barcelona, run by Isango, a large private transport group -previously used to be run by Julià Tours. I am not sure whether Isango=Julià Tours.

There might be others, of course, as Barcelona is a very popular destination but these are the ones off the top of my head right now.

Enjoy!

(!) These are official public organisations/companies managed by the Barcelona City Hall

(aka....) These are alternative names by which they've been known, you know, companies do rebrand their products from time to time :)

A word about the "all-in-one" type of cards (I am referring to the generalistic cards mentioned above)

• This is a time-based card, you purchase a card that's expiring in 2 / 3 days. How many attractions do you think you're going to visit each day? how long does it take to visit each one? and the transit from A to B? So you think you're going to have the stamina, after a few hours, to continue visiting more and more, especially in the heat and humidity of Barcelona?
• Barcelona is not a theme park, of course, there are lots of other things to do/see besides "attractions" and I can bet you'll end up doing less than those you originally thought you'd be visiting.
• Don't be fooled... while the list of attractions indeed includes some of the top ones visited, it also includes a lot of which are not particularly good. Also note there are some attractions in Barcelona (f.e. most City Hall museums and sites) that are already free on Sunday afternoon and others that are so on other days (fe. MNAC on a Sat, Picasso on Tue and Sun).
• With the previous premises, if you look at the cost of the card (100€ for 2 days), you'll notice is not such a bargain, on the contrary, it might end up being a la pair (or even more expensive, depending what you visit) than if you had bought individually at each site.
• Yes, there'll always be a demographic group for which this card might be useful... but it's certainly a very small one once you've really taken into account the above.
• The first cards five mentioned in the previous post are normally not worthwhile for the majority of visitors as their "savings" are not such when one factor in all of this.

My advice? check these sites for ideas and make a (viable!) plan:

• http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/en/
• http://www.infocatalonia.eu/
• http://www.timeout.com/barcelona
• http://lameva.barcelona.cat/en
• http://www.barcelonaesmoltmes.cat/en/inici
• http://patrimoni.gencat.cat/en/discover/search

You'll be able then to assess whether you're better off (or not) with a card or whether it's better to purchase individually. Note it's not straight-forward... you'll need to do some planning and some math first. But do so, the results can be very enlightening on how certain "all-in-one" schemes are a rip-off.

Just a reflection, of course!

So... is there a card that would cover transportation AND the main attractions (the most visited) in Barcelona??

Short answer: NO, so you're most likely better off with the HolaBCN for unlimited transportation (in most transport means, but not all, check details!) and then individual tickets for the attractions you want to see.

Most of the "top" sites that receive hundreds of thousands of visitors every month of the year do not "need" to be part of any scheme to attract more visitors since they already run at full capacity most of the time. In fact, being linked to one of these schemes does often involve some sort of discount for pass holders, and why would they want to lose income if they are already flying high?

Yet a few, ie. Sagrada Família, participate anyway in the scheme of the Barcelona Card (the one issued by the Barcelona Tourism Board) but the discount is rather symbolic (=irrelevant) and they only do so for reasons related to local politics (=a religious foundation that needs to be in 'good stand' with the City Hall). Therefore it's certainly not a reason to get the card and hardly worthwhile anyway.

Also, the actors involved in running each individual site are numerous: private companies, foundations, public institutions.... a nightmare to get them to work together as interests and priorities can be very different.

Enric's advice was really helpful to me last summer when I was planning our trip to Barcelona. We only bought advance tickets to Sagrada Familia, because it was important to me to get a tour and an early time slot. I watched the SF website three months in advance, and when the July tickets finally opened for sale, I got the first tour, on the day we wanted, and we planned the rest of our stay around that reservation. I'd recommend checking out the direct websites for the things you want to experience and reserving what you can. (Rather than doing an all-encompassing pass). We had thought the HOHO bus would be a good idea, but acraven's mention of the excessive lines was a good warning. The most popular sites need advance planning, as Enric and acraven recommend...but there is a lot to see in Barcelona just by walking around as you please. I wish we'd seen the Magic Fountains, but our time was too short. We really enjoyed strolling around the different neighborhoods, seeing markets, parks, Moderniste buildings, and more. The Metro was easy to use, and our family shared a T10 ticket, as recommended.

You wondered about transfers: We used a van cab to get to the airport when we were ready to leave. (We had arrived from San Sebastian by train). Our hotel called it for us, reserving the night before, and it held 5 of us with 5 carry on bags and two checked bags. We'd begun the trip carryon only, but expanded the luggage count for some souvenirs. We all fit into the van, and it was I think around 55-60 euros to get us all to the airport early in the morning.

I bought the Rick Steves Pocket Barcelona guide, and it was helpful. We were only there for 2.5 days at the end of our France and Spain trip, but were able to see a lot in those days of walking and eating lots of empanadas and gelato! We were treated to lovely music, kids playing with giant bubbles, and dancing in front of the Barcelona Cathedral at sunset, unexpectedly. We rounded a corner and came upon that lovely scene. We visited La Boqueria market twice, at the end of one day and the start of the next...definitely recommend trying to get there early or late. Otherwise it was really, really crowded. We visited the Parc de la Ciutadella and saw wild parakeets and a beautiful cascading fountain.

Also, we had a great midday meal in an unexpected place - the cafeteria in El Cortes Ingles department store at Plaça Catalunya. Then afterward we shopped for some nice souvenirs in the store - art supplies and Gaudi inspired mugs and an espresso set. Kind of quirky but it worked for the five of us...plus the store was air conditioned on that very hot day. Since we were at the end of our trip, and feeling like the budget was spent, we had a couple of meals courtesy of the Carrefour store on Las Ramblas, which was a fun experience in itself for our family of food lovers. We bought fresh bread there, plus cheese, chocolate mousse from the fridge, and beverages to go with the other foods we'd bought at La Boqueria. We also picked up some foodie souvenirs there for good prices. It was a fun place for our kids to practice their Spanish, as well.

Have a great trip!
Laurie

I found the metro the best way to get around for the most part. Buses and taxis can get bogged down in city traffic. I used the T10 metro card. It paid for itself after 4 or 5 rides and I ended up giving to it another tourist when I left because it still ahd several rides on it. It can be used by more than one person. One problem with multi-sight options is that some of the most popular ones need to be pre-booked with timed entry. Since you don't have much time, you should plan to book those sights you want to see before you get to Barcelona. These include the Gaudi sights, the Palau de la Musica, and the Picasso Museum. The cheapest way to get from the airport is the bus that goes to Plaza de Catalunya. That's fine if you are staying nearby.

Consider that you only have 3 full days. Where are you flying in from? Will it be from the US after a overnight flight, and you have to go through passport control and wait for bags at the luggage carousel, then get to Barcelona zonked? Or will it be from another Schengen country and only carry-ons so you can just walk off the plane and out of the airport? Even then, will you have to get up at 3 am to get to the airport for your flight? On the 26th, you may need to be at the airport by about 3 pm, with close to an hour to get there from your hotel. That gives you just a morning for sightseeing.